Neerja Birla Dons The RJ Hat To Create Awareness About New-Age Parenting And Mental Health On 94.3 Radio One

* The show goes live from 20th June onwards every Sunday from 12 noon to 1 pm

As a fallout of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, mental health has been thrust into the limelight, and along with it, has kick-started important conversations on the need for awareness about the same. Furthering her mission to break the stigma around mental health, Mrs. Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Mpower, a pioneer in Indian Mental Healthcare is coming up with a brand new radio show ‘The OK Not OK Show’ in collaboration with 94.3 Radio One, India’s only international radio network. The show will go on-air from 20th June onwards, every Sunday between 12 noon to 1 pm and will focus on various aspects of new-age parenting and child & adolescent mental health.

As a mother of three young children herself, Mrs. Birla brings to the table rich insights on what it takes to be a parent, amidst the pandemic and especially in this dynamic & digital age. Through her maiden radio stint, Mrs. Birla plans to discuss issues pertaining to parenting, and how mental health lies at the intersection of our identities, our homes, workplaces, and much more that isn’t immediately apparent to any of us. Through the show, Mrs. Birla will cover a range of topics that are relevant for parents today. Some of the topics that she will speak on will cover understanding children’s personalities, hacks for the modern Indian parent, keeping the next generation grounded and rooted, effective parenting while working from home, and combating substance abuse in adolescents.

On a mission to promote mental health and break the stigma, Mrs. Birla has always taken a hands-on approach by effectively collaborating with Print, Online and Television media. Now she will also use the power of Radio to share some of her personal experiences, and learnings, in order to spread the word that parents are not alone in their struggles and that there are always solutions to every challenge. She is also hopeful that by opening up about her journey as a mother, she will encourage parents to speak up and seek help if need be.

Speaking about the show, Mrs. Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Mpower said, “Parenthood is a wonderful feeling and emotion, however, it cannot be experienced alone. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that is the village I want to be a part of. Through ‘The OK Not OK Show’, I hope to make a difference in societal outlook and help other parents to be able to raise responsible citizens of tomorrow. I think there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting and I do not claim to have all the answers to your questions. But through sharing my experiences, I hope to encourage parents to have open conversations with their children about their overall well-being.”

Commenting on the collaboration, Ramesh Menon, CEO – Radio and Entertainment, HT Media Ltd and Next Mediaworks Ltd. said “I am super excited about this show. Nothing is more important than conversations around the mental health of our children today. The pandemic has not only taken a toll on us but our young ones are going through this tough phase and dealing with it in their own way. The distress from the dramatic changes around us is for real and affecting the kids and as parents we need have cognizance of that. Through this show the Radio One Community wants to give a shout out to all the parents to learn the strategies and techniques that will help stabilize young minds and to promote a healthier emotional processing of the changes and constraints around. I wish the team and Ms. Birla success with the show. Look forward to having some great conversations!”

To catch Mrs. Birla open up about parenthood, tune in to 94.3 Radio One every Sunday between 12 noon to 1 pm starting 20th June 2021.

About Mpower:

Backed by Aditya Birla Education Trust, Mpower is a holistic mental health care initiative, which has become the pioneer of mental health awareness in the country. Since its inception, Mpower aims to create an ecosystem where people with mental health concerns and their caregivers receive professional support, care and acceptance to facilitate their recovery, without facing discrimination or shame. With the help of holistic care, interventions and treatments that are world-class and multi-disciplinary, Mpower is dedicated to ending the stigma associated with mental health. Mpower hopes to help in bringing about change in the public perception of coping with mental health concerns. Currently, Mpower's clinical footprint is in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Goa, Pilani and Kalyan https://mpowerminds.com/

About 94.3 Radio One:

Radio One is operational in 7 Indian cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad. It runs India's largest International format Radio Network in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore; the CHR format in Pune and Ahmedabad; Hindi Retro format in Kolkata, and cool Tamil format in Chennai. Radio One appeals to intelligent and evolved listeners – which the brand calls “International Indians”. Radio One is part of the Fever Network which houses three distinct radio stations – Fever FM, Radio Nasha and Radio One. The Fever Network spans across 22 stations and 15 cities, providing the widest array of content, music and advertising options for our listeners and advertisers.

UPL Ltd Bags The Asian Sustainability Leadership Award For Excellence In Sustainability Performance Management

UPL Ltd.,a global provider of sustainable agriculture products and solutions,has received the prestigious Asian Sustainability Leadership Award for Excellence in Sustainability Performance Management for displaying commendable commitment to sustainability.The Asian Leadership Awards (ALA) acknowledgesremarkable business leaders and organizations in Asia for their continuing commitment to excellence, developing best practices and innovative strategies.

UPL has been recognized as a sustainability leader by the respected organizations like DJSI and Sustainalytics, and its unique approach to the food value chain puts sustainability at the centre-stage.UPL Ltd. has showcased its commitment to sustainability via numerous initiatives and programs. A few noteworthy achievements on reducing the environment footprint at UPL includesthe reduction of carbon emission intensity by 26%, waste disposal intensity by 45% and water consumption intensity by 21% during the period FY2017 to FY 2020 (considering 2015-16 as the baseline). UPL Ltd operates in over 138 countries across the globe and 60% of its plants are zero liquid discharge plants.

In addition to this, the company is a member of the UN Global Compact as well as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, both working towards sustainable development. UPL was the only crop protection company in the world to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Yearbook 2020,and was rated as the #1 agrochemical company globally by renowned international sustainability rating agency, Sustainalytics. It has also been rated by FTSE Russell with a growth of over 25% in the last three years, and is a certified logo holder of FTSE4Good & Responsible Care.

Dr. Mritunjay Chaubey, Global Vice President- Environment & Sustainability, UPL Ltd commenting on the achievement, said, “We at UPL are constantly working to improve sustainability in agriculture as this has been a part of our core philosophy since inception and is practiced in our business across the value chain. We are extremely grateful and humbled to have received this award, and we hope to continue our mission to change the game and make every single food product more sustainable.”

About UPL:

UPL Ltd. (NSE: UPL & BSE: 512070) is a global provider of sustainable agriculture products & solutions, with annual revenue exceeding $5 billion. We are a purpose-led company. Through OpenAg, UPL is focused on facilitating progress for the entire agricultural value chain. We are building a network that redefines the way an entire industry thinks and works – open to fresh ideas, innovative ways, and new answers as we strive towards our mission to make every single food product more sustainable. As one of the largest agriculture solutions companies worldwide, our robust portfolio consists of biologicals and traditional crop protection solutions with more than 13,600 registrations. We are present in more than 130 countries, represented by more than 10,000 colleagues globally. 

Flexmoney - India’s Leading Buy Now Pay Later Network Platform Raises $4.8M Series A

* The US $4.8M Series A funding round led by Pravega Ventures also saw participation from Silicon Valley’s Z5 Capital and several marquee individual investors

* Over 25 Million pre-approved ‘cardless’ EMI credit lines are already LIVE on the network platform across 6 leading Banks and NBFCs and over 3,800 top online merchants and brands

Flexmoney, India’s First Full-Lifecycle Digital Credit Network Platform for Lenders and Merchants to offer frictionless, secure checkout finance, has raised US $4.8M in its Series A funding. The funding round was led by Pravega Ventures and saw participation from Silicon Valley-based Z5 Capital.

The round also saw participation from several marquee individual investors including:

·  Ben Davey, former Group Head of Strategy, Barclays Bank & CEO Barclays Ventures

·  Mike Smith, former Chief Product & Technology Officer, Barclays Ventures & Director, Amazon Core Display Ad Platform

·  Ambarish Malpani, successful serial entrepreneur and technologist with multiple exits

·  Rishad Byramjee, Group MD & CEO Casby Logistics & Board Member, Centrum Group

Flexmoney’s mission is to address the enormous digital credit market opportunity created by the disruption from e-commerce, EMI and BNPL checkout finance, and the consumer shift to mobile-first payments and banking that has created an ecosystem-wide market gap for a mass-market digital purchase credit product. With over 25 Million pre-approved ‘cardless’ EMI credit lines from 6 trusted Banks and NBFCs already LIVE on its network platform, and several more in the pipeline, Flexmoney is extremely well placed to provide the most scalable, secure, and frictionless EMI and BNPL credit infrastructure to the Indian ecosystem of merchants and lenders.

Flexmoney’s vision is to Simplify and Democratize Consumer Credit, by enabling trusted Banks and NBFCs to easily offer branded, ‘sachet-sized’, ‘cardless’, digital credit lines to their customers, as well as address customer segments that are otherwise unviable to service via legacy bank offerings such as credit cards or personal loans.

InstaCredTM, Flexmoney’s world-class EMI and BNPL digital credit infrastructure enables any Bank or NBFC to quickly offer Branded, Instant, ‘Cardless’ Point-of-Sale Credit across Flexmoney’s partner network of 3,800+ online merchants, including a majority of the leading e-commerce merchants and brands in the country.

Speaking on the fundraise, Yezdi Lashkari, Founder & CEO of Flexmoney Technologies said, "We are pleased with the confidence that our customers and investors have shown in our mission to reimagine and transform the consumer finance experience in India. Flexmoney’s digital credit platform provides a seamless and secure ‘plug and play’ proposition for trusted lenders and merchants to offer the widest set of options for frictionless, secure, instant checkout finance to their customers and is transforming their purchase experience. With this funding, we are one step closer to achieving our vision of Simplifying and Democratising Consumer Credit in India.”

Flexmoney aims to use the funds to scale its credit network footprint to many more lenders and merchants, as well as launch multiple additional products and consolidate its position as the leading digital credit and BNPL infrastructure in India. Flexmoney had previously raised seed funding from multiple global and domestic angel investors.

A spokesperson for Pravega Ventures, said “Traditional credit instruments have failed to create a significant impression in the Indian market with credit card penetration standing only at 3% v/s 42% in China. Flexmoney's InstaCred BNPL credit platform is leveraging technology to democratize credit access by enabling consumers and small businesses to instantly avail short-term digital credit at the point of purchase, without the need for credit cards or robust credit history. We are extremely impressed with the network that Flexmoney has built in a short span and are excited to participate in their mission to revolutionize the Indian credit landscape.”

Nanda Krish, General Partner at Z5 Capital, said “Z5 Capital is thrilled to invest in Flexmoney and fuel its mission to simplify and democratize Purchase Financing in India. InstaCred by Flexmoney is already the largest “Buy Now, Pay Later” platform in India, and the need and potential for this internet credit infrastructure spans across even more global markets. We’re proud and excited to partner with Flexmoney to scale up and revolutionize the credit ecosystem in India and across the globe.”

Ben Davey, former Group Head of Strategy, Barclays Bank & CEO Barclays Ventures, said “Flexmoney is positioning itself at the forefront of the digital credit eco-system in India. Flexmoney’s experienced leadership team has built a strong network of trusted Banks and NBFCs to offer branded, instant, ‘cardless’ point-of-sale credit across its growing partner network of merchants. As a former banker and active fintech investor, I am excited by the growth potential of Flexmoney’s digital credit platform both in India and internationally, and extremely proud to be part of their journey as they disrupt the credit ecosystem on a mission to become the preferred choice for the digital consumer generation”

About Flexmoney

Founded by Yezdi Lashkari, an experienced operating executive and successful serial entrepreneur, Flexmoney’s vision is to Simplify and Democratize Consumer Credit.  InstaCredTM, Flexmoney’s world-class digital credit infrastructure enables trusted Banks and NBFCs to easily offer Branded, Instant, ‘Cardless’ Point-of-Sale Credit across Flexmoney’s partner network of merchants. InstaCredTM is India’s FIRST Full-Lifecycle Digital Credit Network Platform for Lenders and Merchants to offer frictionless, secure purchase finance to their customers.

About Pravega Ventures

Pravega Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund with a sector focus on fintech and enterprise SaaS domains. The firm invests in early-stage companies, partnering with passionate founders to transform ideas into category-leading, best-in-class businesses leveraging technology. The founders have extensive prior experience in early-stage investing and deep roots in the technology and Indian financial services ecosystem

About Z5 Capital

Z5 Capital is an enterprise-focused seed fund founded by seasoned tech investors and entrepreneurs. Based in Silicon Valley, the fund actively seeks start-ups in the areas of Multi-Cloud Infrastructure, Security, Data Management, and Enterprise-Enabled AI/ML. Z5 Capital not only provides funding, but also access to an extensive infrastructure network, diverse go-to-market partnerships, and industry-leading advisory teams.

Polkadot Buildathon: India, Aimed At Strengthening The Web3 Wave In India, Announces The Top 3 Winners Of The Hackathon

* Skykiwi, a decentralized storage network announced as the winner of Polkadot’s first-ever India-focused  blockchain hackathon

* Runners up PolkaMusic and Cerebrum to also receive prize money and go-to-market access globally for their projects built on the Polkadot network

Polkadot, an advanced sharded, multi-chain, and interoperable network founded by Web 3.0 Foundation, in association with Lumos Labs, an innovation management firm, today announced Skykiwi, a decentralized storage network as the winners of the inaugural edition of Polkadot Buildathon: India, Polkadot’s first-ever India-focused blockchain hackathon aimed at driving the Web3 wave in India, started in May of 2021. The top three projects stand to receive a grand prize from a pool of $14,000 USD along with go-to-market access and support in technology implementation. 

PolkaMusic, a gamified music streaming experience using NFTs and Cerebrum, an open-source distributed infrastructure for training AI models  were selected as the 1st runner-up and 2nd runner-up respectively, of the hackathon after a nine-week-long run hackathon interspersed with regular meetups and training workshops. 

The announcement was made at the Polkadot Buildathon Demo Day, a virtual conference attendees from across the globe on June 11, 2021, where the final 5 selected start-ups, Cerebrum, Dot ID, Dotscale, PolkaMusic and SkyeKiwi pitched their products one last time. Apart from pitches from the top projects, the Demo day also featured some interesting talks from the Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies teams. Participants could also explore a range of  opportunities from the Web3 Foundation Grants Program, Substrate Builders Program, On-Chain Treasury, and even an opportunity to secure Job placement in the Polkadot Ecosystem with their knowledge of Substrate.

The surge of emerging advancements in the blockchain industry including DeFi, dApps, NFTs, etc, has resulted in a parallel surge in demand for developers and entrepreneurs in the field.  According to a report by Linkedin, blockchain is the most in-demand hard skill required by top companies in 2020. India with its developer pool  at a strong 4.2 million, the second largest globally, is now the hub for blockchain development. According to a leading media publication, Inc42, the number of blockchain startups in India has also gone up from 100+ in 2018 to 300+ in 2021. This has been a huge pull for global platforms to explore the Indian markets. The Polkadot Buildathon: India was established with this mission of building the Web3.0 ecosystem and providing the necessary catalyst to enhance the developer ecosystem of India and be a part of the revolution. 

The hackathon was conducted in two four-week-long phases: the Ideation phase and the Integration phase. During the course of the Ideation phase, over 1200 developers applied, with 120+ project ideas developed. The participants were provided with training workshops to learn basic local node deployment and identify real-world problems that could be solved on the chain using Substrate, the blockchain-building framework used in the Polkadot ecosystem. This was followed by the Integration phase where the first cohort of the selected participants were empowered to build and improve their solutions on the Polkadot parachain further along with fine tuning their USPs that set them apart.

“This has been a very exciting and rewarding experience and we wish the winners the best for their future endeavours. We at the Web3 Foundation are delighted to have been a part of such  a dynamic and strong developer community in India and look forward to working on more future projects with the community filled with the same enthusiasm, knowledge, and vigour as we witnessed throughout the Buildathon. As the world heads towards a shift into Web3, India has proved to be abreast with it, if not ahead. Our Polkadot Buildathon:India was a step into empowering the community further and enabling them to explore the limits of the partnership between their creativity and this disruptive technology. After witnessing such a spectacular turnout, we are very excited to pursue future collaborations and see what more Indian developers, entrepreneurs, innovators, startups, etc have to offer”, said Urban Osvald, Growth Manager at Web 3.0 Foundation. 

The Polkadot Buildathon: India hackathon saw a strong and active participation of over 1200+ registrations from which top participants selected in its first cohort were granted $200 each, followed by the selection of the Top 5 who pitched their projects live at the Demo Day. The 9-week long hackathon was launched in partnership with Lumos Labs, an innovation management firm specialising in running technology open innovation programs in India.

Akashneel Dasgupta Joins Network Advertising As The New Chief Creative Officer

Network Advertising has appointed Akashneel Dasgupta as its Chief Creative Officer. He joins Network from BBDO, Gurgaon.

Akashneel is a MICA graduate with over 16 years of experience who began his career as a Strategic Planner but switched over to creative for the sheer love of films and filmmaking. 

Commenting on the new role, Akashneel said, “Independent. Integrated and most importantly Indian. Not too many agencies can truly claim to be that in the current scenario. Added to that is a culture of empathy and transparency. It is a story which deserves to travel further, and I would be extremely happy to contribute to this wonderful place, that is an outlier in today’s world. At the same time preserve the culture which has been carefully built over decades, by the current team.” 

Akashneel has also had successful stints at DDB Mudra, Lowe Lintas and ADK Fortune.

Vinod Nair, MD, Network Advertising, said, “We are extremely fortunate to have a powerhouse of talent like Akashneel on board at Network. A rare combination of a Strategic Planner turned Creative Director; I am looking forward to seeing his leadership in collaborating with his team in creating work that adds value to our Client’s Businesses”.

About Network Advertising

Network is a full-service independent agency that provides Brand & Design Consultancy and integrated creative, media & digital solutions. Its 25+ years existence is defined by its ability to think fearlessly and help impact the client’s business. Network has been the communications partner helping create many brands in sunrise industries from a host of sectors including FMCG, BFSI, e-commerce, Consumer Durables, Retail, Real Estate, Logistics, Pharma, among others.

Leading Jewellers’ Organizes Vaccination Drive For their Employees And Contractors

Many Leading Jewellers’have held a vaccination drive  for its staff. Through this massive drive they ensured that 100% vaccination is done for their staff members, contractors which included security & housekeeping personnel. Keeping Social distancing as the prime focus, all the other essential and safety protocols were followed due diligently, at this event.Jewellers’ vaccination drive is one of the important drives of the company, which looks into very fact that essential medical and non-medical support to employees should be given seamlessly, to help them overcome this ongoing crisis.

Talking about the vaccination drive,  Mr. Ketan Dhruv, Hon. Secretary of the Jewellers’ association, Bangalore, said “ We are with the nation in this fight against this pandemic and to do that, the association with the collaborative effort of all its members, have taken steps to soften the impact of the pandemic on society though these kind of multiple charity programs”.

He further added that, many establishments with 100% vaccination should be given permission to start functioning immediately with adherence to protocols on restrictions. Such policy change will help in increasing the pace of vaccination drives and will also start the economic activities, saving both lives and livelihood.

Jewellers’ Association, Bangalore is a premier Jewelry association in Southern India with more than 1400 members and with a proud legacy of 80 years. Our members are the prominent Jewelers from various parts of India.

Jewelry has always been an important part of marriages in India. These marriages are not getting impacted and postponed due to lockdown. We need to meet the requirements of our clients in these kind of situations as well. Also, many of our clients might be disposing off their jewelry for their financial emergencies.

Considering all the above facts it is very important for this Industry to operate and hence the association puts forward a strong request to the Government to give relaxations for the trade to run.

iMocha Becomes The World’s Largest AI-Powered Skills Assessment Platform

Backed by its 2000+ strong skills library, iMocha has achieved the distinction of becoming the world’s largest AI-powered skills assessment platform. The platform is used extensively by its 300+ global clientele for pre-employment screening, IT & technical recruiting, university recruitment, lateral hiring, diversity hiring, and upskilling. 

Using iMocha, customers can assess candidates on skills such as Application Development, Cloud, Cyber Security, Digital Skills, Enterprise Applications, Infrastructure Management, Quality Assurance & Engineering, and Business Communication to name a few. They can build customized assessments or use pre-built ones to test candidates' skills objectively and accurately while reducing hiring time and costs by as much as 60%.

Praising iMocha’s innovative skill assessment platform, Satya Nadella, CEO - Microsoft said, “We worked with a start-up, iMocha, where they built out this skilling API, which allows managers to be able to really increase the pace of hiring for the open jobs and the skills matching. So that’s the type of innovation we are seeing.”

On achieving this feat, Amit Mishra, Co-founder & CEO – iMocha said, “We are delighted to achieve this enviable position. Our skills library and AI-powered skills assessment platform meet all hiring requirements of our customers and enable them to assess candidates without any scope for bias. Moreover, our intelligent remote proctoring features have been a huge hit since remote hiring became a norm. We have deployed several game-changing innovations and more are in the pipeline that will further consolidate our leadership position.”

Sujit Karpe, Co-founder & CTO – iMocha added, “Our platform is robust, flexible, and highly scalable. It caters to all assessment requirements of the IT industry, and our comprehensive suite of reporting and analytics help our customers get actionable insights. These are just some of the reasons why we have customers across the entire spectrum of the industry who are using our platform to build operational excellence in their hiring processes. In fact, 4 of the top 10 IT consulting companies in the world are our customers, which is a testimony of the value that our platform adds in an organization’s hiring processes.” 

About iMocha 

iMocha is the world's largest AI-powered digital skills assessment platform that helps organizations build winning teams. iMocha empowers organizations to thoroughly assess employees as well as candidates, essential to identify and benchmark their skills proficiency according to industry/company standards. The organization has served over 1000 clients globally including Fujitsu, 7-Eleven, Ericsson, Navy Federal Credit Union, Capgemini, among many others.